Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee

Bach and Barbecue Are on the Menu at Christ Church Celebration

July 12, 2018

Bach and barbecue are on the menu for the 150th anniversary of Christ Church, Tracy City, Tenn., Sept. 8-9, 2018.

Add a gospel quartet, an Americana band and an organ recital and you have the entertainment lineup for the church’s weekend festivities on the lawn and inside the church—the oldest continuously operating Episcopal Church on the South Cumberland Plateau.

The public is invited to the community celebration, according to Jim Sherrell, senior warden at the church, which dates its beginning from an outdoor service at a sawmill in Tracy City in 1868.

On the Rock, a gospel quartet from Gruetli-Laager, will open with Southern and traditional gospel songs on Saturday, Sept. 8, at 11 a.m., followed by a barbecue at noon on the church grounds.

Bazzania, an all-girl band from Sewanee, Tenn., will perform bluegrass and folk music at 1 p.m.

At 2 p.m., organist Lenda Sherrell of Monteagle, Tenn., whose favorite composer is Bach, will present an organ recital of classical and sacred music in the church.

Registration for the event begins Saturday at 9 a.m. in the Father Adamz Memorial Parish House with complimentary coffee and pastries. The parish house will also be the site of exhibits.

Besides members of the congregation, guests expected at the event include former church members, families, friends and clergy. Some of the out-of-town visitors will be staying in Monteagle at the DuBose Conference Center (www.duboseconf.org), an historical Episcopal camp, conference and retreat center that will soon be celebrating its own 150th anniversary.

On Sunday, Sept. 9, starting at 11 a.m., there will be a traditional worship service in the church, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, followed by a reception in the parish house.

For more information, visit the church’s website at www.christ-church-tc.org.

Christ Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee, and a member of the Southeast Tennessee Episcopal Ministry which also includes Christ Church, Alto; Epiphany, Sherwood; Holy Comforter, Monteagle; and Trinity, Winchester.